Potato Salad, Low Fat, With Mayonnaise

I love potato salad especially in the summer, but a table laid with cold meats & chicken drumsticks at any time of year, just isn't complete without it! There are a few variations you can do with the flavourings too, so all people can be satisfied. You can swap low fat Mayo & use the full fat kind if you are not watching your intake.
I am making this a lot at the moment as we are using potatoes we & friends are growing on our properties here in Bulgaria, nothing quite like freshly dug potatoes.

New Potatoes boiled in their skins ( you can off course peel them)
Low fat mayonnaise
2 tbsp Cider vinegar
1/2 - 1 tsp liquid sweetener or tsp2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp English Mustard powder, OR Curry powder, OR leave out for Natural flavour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 tsp Pepper
Paprika
Minced onion (I leave this out)

Mix vinegar, sweetener, garlic powder, flavouring of choice, pepper, paprika & salt together. Once combined add onion if using & then add mayo, to your taste & stir well. Add to the potatoes coating well. You can thin with a little milk if it seems too thick for your taste.
Cover & refrigerate overnight to give the flavours time to combine.

Another variation is add 5 hard boiled, chopped eggs to the mixture. This is really nice & very tasty

Microwave Strawberry Jam

. . . is not as grand an idea as one might think.

Paper towels.  My new best friend.

So what's going on in your kitchen?

Fruit and Cheese

You know how sometimes one thought hopscotches to the next and you find yourself in the library searching for a book about Thomas Jefferson's years in Paris and wondering just how, exactly, you got there?

Well.

I started by thinking about Bastille Day, July 14, a patriotic holiday in France.  Bastille Day led me to thinking about French food, which led me to

cheese fondue (which is Swiss, turns out, in spite of the fact that this one is called French Onion Fondue).  Which led me to a book about cheese, written by a poet who mentions Moby-Dick and cheese curd in the same sentence and makes it seem like a natural pairing.  That led me to my Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook

and its listing of fruits and cheeses, which led me to our backyard peach tree

which got me to wondering if I'd written about cheese and fruit pairings before, which led me to the Too Hot to Cook chapter of my book Queen of the Castle

where, turns out, I certainly had.

And now I'm curious about cheeses and France and the late 1700s and Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and about what resources there are for homeschoolers interested in France

even though I am not a homeschooler and have no plans to teach a unit on France and by now Bastille Day is long over.

So here's a sandwich.  A fine snack or part of a meal when it's too hot to cook.

Bread (skinny baguettes are good)
Cheese (Mascarpone, a sweetened cream cheese that, turns out, is from Italy, not France)
Backyard or grocery store peach, sliced

Put the cheese on a slice of the bread.  Put a slice of peach on the cheese.  Eat.

Marrow & Plum (no onion) Chutney

This is a really lovely chutney the mix of fruit with vegetable is lovely & it goes just as well with cheese as with ham in sandwiches & also with meat, salad & cheese board. A very versatile chutney.
My chutneys are without onion through an allergy but obviously if you are ok then please add a large onion instead of the garlic

Made with red plums but also can be made with the big purple plums, these are even fruitier.

2 Heads of garlic

1 1/2 kilo Plums

1 1/2 kilo Marrow de-seeded & chopped, remove peel if this is tough

1 litre Vinegar

1 tbsp Ginger

1 tsp Nutmeg

2 tsp Allspice

2 tsp Cinnamon

2 tsp Salt

1 kilo Sugar

Peel & de seed marrow chop small. Crush & chop garlic. Put plums into pan with little water & gently heat to release stones. Remove with a skimmer spoon. Add Garlic & Marrow to pan & stir. Add spices & salt & stir well then add vinegar, stir & bring to boil. Simmer till soft then stir in sugar till it is dissolved.

Cook till chutney is thick & you leave a channel behind as you draw a spoon through it. Pour into pre sterilised jars & seal.

Store for three months to mature the tastes. Will keep for over a year.

Old Fashioned White Plum & Cinnamon Jam

Well lots of plums this year so lots of plummy stuff :-) We have a white plum tree which is delectable, sweet & juicy. Gorgeous to eat off the tree but also makes a wonderful jam to be enjoyed through out the year. The white plums adorn lots of tree's around our village, so we will be scrumping more soon but these are the last fruit from our tree.

So a good recipe for white plum jam, easy & very tasty. Can use red plums too, they like cinnamon .
1kilo or more White Plums
1 kilo or more sugar (use the same weight in sugar as the fruit)
A little water
2 tsp Cinnamon
Put the plums in a large pan with a little water & simmer slowly till they release their stones. Skim out the stones & stir in the sugar. Stir till sugar is dissolved & then add the cinnamon. Boil rapidly for about 10 - 14 mins until jam has set. test on frozen plate. If not yet set then put plate back in the freezer & keep checking every couple of mins.
Easy peasy jam :-) no pectin just an old fashioned method

Marrow, Ginger & Lemon Jam

Mmmmmm I am always up for making different flavour jams. As I am growing Marrows this year & use them in chutneys I was wondering what else I could try out. Here is my first experiment. I looked up differing recipes & adjusted them slightly but its a very simple recipe & makes a very moorish jam, lovely on some fresh baked bread!

3 lb Marrow peeled de seeded & chopped small
3 lb Sugar
1 Lemon, juice & peel
2" piece of fresh root Ginger peeled & grated

Put the peeled & chopped marrow in a large pan with 1 lb of sugar. Cover & leave overnight.
Stir the now watery mixture & add rest of sugar. Bring to the boil then simmer on a slow roll for 1 hour. Don't forget to stir frequently!
Add the ginger, lemon juice & peeled & finely cut rind to the pan, stir & continue to boil till jam reaches setting point, test using the frozen dish method. Pour into 2 x 1lb sterilised jars & seal.

Coleslaw (Low Fat)

BBQ season is the best time of year to have parties. I especially love the garden party, formal & informal gatherings, of friends & if family are here too then I am in heaven!
I love coleslaw at any time but it is the best salad to have on a table & goes with all grilled meat.This recipe is light & fresh. I make this with low fat Mayonnaise but you can use the full fat variety if you wish

The measurements are dependant on how many servings you want, add or subtract as needed for vegetables keep the sauce amounts the same add more of individual ingredients to taste!

1/2 -1 cabbage
4 - 8 Carrots
Bunch spring onions
Low fat or fat free mayonnaise, amount according to your liking
2 tbsp Cider vinegar
2 tbsp Dijon mustard or grainy mustard
1/2 tsp liquid sweetener or 2 tsp Sugar add more if necessary
1/2 cup plain very low fat yoghurt, full fat if wished.
2 tsp Lemon juice
Salt & Pepper
Tomato ketchup can also be added, why not split into two bowls one with ketchup & one without ;-)

Shred cabbage, carrot & chop onion. Mix together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl mix together yoghurt, mustard & vinegar.
Stir well.
Add salt, pepper, lemon & sweetener.
Stir all ingredients together really well then add mayonnaise& make sure
At this point you can add the tomato ketchup.
Pour mixture over the vegetables & work it through so all the veg is covered.
It can be thinned with a little milk if necessary.
Now store covered, in the fridge over night, for the flavours to meld. It can be eaten the same day if time is short.